Welcome to Wellfleet Fire & Rescue
Change Your Clocks Change Your Batteries
March 10th 2013
The Wellfleet Fire Department would like to remind residents that when you change your clocks for daylight savings time on March 10th, 2013, it's also an excellent time to change the batteries in your smoke detectors and carbon monoxide detectors.
If you need assistance changing the batteries please call the fire department at 508-349-3754 between the hours of 9:00 - 4:00 to schedule a firefighter to come to your house.
Most manufactures recommend that smoke detectors should be replaced every ten years and carbon monoxide detectors should be replaced every five to seven years depending on the brand.
More Information on smoke alarms can be found on The National Fire Protection Association's website at www.nfpa.org/smokealarms
OPEN BURNING, 2013
Open burning season begins on, January 15, 2013 and continues until 4:00 PM, May 1, 2013.
Anyone wishing to burn brush in Wellfleet must obtain a permit in advance from the Wellfleet Fire Department. The fee for the permit is $15 and must be paid for with a check or exact change in cash.
Burning may be done between 10 AM and 4 PM, weather permitting.
You must call the Fire Department at 508-349-0333 between 9:30 and 11:00 AM on each day you want to burn.
This number will connect you to an automated line which will tell you if burning is allowed that day. Calls for permission to burn must be made to this phone number only. If burning is allowed, you'll be prompted to leave your name, address and permit number. If conditions change during the day, the Fire Department reserves the right to call and order that all fires be extinguished.
Complete regulations for open burning are attached to the open burning permit. Please read the regulations carefully. Violation of the regulations will void the permit, and may result in revocation of your permit by any fire department official.
You can download the application for an open burning permit and bring it to the Fire Department along with the $15 fee. Applications will be processed between 9 AM and 3 PM daily. Please bring either the exact amount in cash, or a check made out to the Town of Wellfleet. Open burning permit applications are also available in person at the Fire Department.
Click here to download the permit application and regulations
Click here for a copy of the open burning regulations only
Click here for open burning safety tips from the state fire marshal's office
Call the Fire Department at 508-349-3754 if you need any additional information.
KEEP WARM KEEP SAFE
CLICK HERE FOR WINTER HEATING
AND FIRE SAFETY TIPS
Off-season beach fires
Beach fires are only allowed on three of Wellfleet's ocean side beaches. Beach fires are never allowed on bay or harbor side beaches.
Off-season, no permit is required, but beachgoers must comply with the Beach Department's regulations for beach fires.
If you plan to have a beach fire, please call the on-duty personnel at the Fire Department a couple of hours in advance and let them know which beach you plan to use.
Click here to link to the Beach Department's Beach Fire Permit Information
Fire Department Permit Fee Schedule
New fees for permits issued by the Fire Department were approved by the Board of Selectmen following a public hearing on June 26, 2012.
The new fees are effective as of July 1, 2012.
Click here for a schedule of the new permit fees
Better insurance rating for Wellfleet
Since the installation of the new municipal water system, the Wellfleet Fire Department has been working to improve the fire insurance rating for those areas of Town served by the water system. Insurance Services Office, Inc. (ISO) rates a community on the effectiveness of its fire protection under their Public Protection Classification Program. For many years, Wellfleet has been rated as an ISO Class 9, which recognizes a creditable fire department and dispatch center, but no creditable water supply.
Capt. Thomas Ferreira has been in charge of our Department’s work over the past 12 months to improve the Town’s ISO insurance rating. With assistance from other Town departments and neighboring fire departments, and from Environmental Partners Group and Whitewater (the Town’s water system designer and operator), we’ve provided ISO with hundreds of pages of information relating to Fire Department equipment and operations, emergency call handling, the water supply system, and the characteristics of our community. From this data, ISO has analyzed the effectiveness of our fire protection, and the good news is that areas served by the water system will now be rated as a Class 4. This classification becomes effective on June 1, 2012, and will apply to properties within 5 miles of the fire station and within 1,000 feet of a fire hydrant. The rest of the Town will remain at a Class 9, except for a few isolated properties which are more than 5 miles from a fire station.
Below is a link to a map which shows properties within 1,000 feet of a hydrant. This map can be enlarged to show individual properties more clearly. This new ISO rating should result in better fire insurance rates for many homes and businesses in Town and for the Town’s municipal buildings. However, neither the Fire Department nor the Town sets insurance rates, and insurance companies make their own decisions about how to use ISO ratings in setting insurance rates.
The Fire Department is pleased to have been successful in incorporating the new municipal water system and hydrants into our mission to protect lives and property, and to have achieved the goal of a better insurance rating that the new water system made possible.
Click here for the map showing properties within 1,000 feet of a hydrant.
SMOKE ALARM REGULATIONS
EFFECTIVE ON THE SALE OF EXISTING HOMES
On April 5, 2010, changes in the state’s smoke alarm regulations took effect upon the sale or transfer of existing one- and two-family homes.
Enforcement of the new regulations will take place when a home is sold or transferred. Homeowners selling their homes after April 5, 2010 will have to meet these new requirements.
The required smoke and carbon monoxide alarms depend on when a home was built or altered.
Click here for a printed guide to the requirements from the Massachusetts Department of Fire Services.
Real estate agents, builders, and any others interested in these new regulations can click here for a PowerPoint presentation on the new requirements.
Real estate agents have been informed of these new requirements. If you are selling your home and you have questions about the regulations, please contact the Fire Department well in advance of your closing date so we can help you.
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